Gunning Bedford Jr.
Template:Short description Template:Other people Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Gunning Bedford Jr. (1747 – March 30, 1812) was an American Founding Father, delegate to the Congress of the Confederation (Continental Congress), Attorney General of Delaware, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 which drafted the United States Constitution, a signer of the United States Constitution, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
Education and career
Bedford was born in 1747, in Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania, British America,<ref name=FJC>Template:FJC Bio</ref> the fifth of eleven children<ref name=FradinPage8>Template:Cite book</ref> to a wealthy family.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) on September 25, 1771, with honors, as a classmate of James Madison.<ref name="mason">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="New Jersey">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="archive">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=FJC/> He was admitted to the Delaware bar and entered private practice in Dover from 1779 to 1783.<ref name=CB>Template:CongBio</ref>
On July 17, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to elect Bedford to deputy-muster-general for New York in the Continental Army, during the American Revolutionary War.<ref name="muster2">Template:Cite book</ref> On February 28, 1776, he was assigned to the northern army in Canada to muster troops there monthly.<ref name="muster2" /> On June 18, 1776, he was promoted to muster-master-general and assigned to New York.<ref name="muster2" /> He served briefly as an aide to General George Washington.<ref name="FradinPage82">Template:Cite book</ref>
He was a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from 1783 to 1785.<ref name="FJC" /> He was Attorney General of Delaware from April 26, 1784, to September 26, 1789.<ref name="FJC" /><ref name="CB" /> He was appointed a commissioner to the Annapolis Convention in September 1786 but did not attend.<ref name="CB" /> He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted the United States Constitution<ref name="FJC" /> and was a signer of the Constitution.<ref name="CB" /> During the convention, Bedford's threat, "the small ones would find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice" was shouted down as treasonous by the other delegates.<ref>New Republic, August 7, 2002.</ref>
He was a member of the Delaware convention which ratified the Constitution in 1787.<ref name="CB" /> He was a member of the Delaware Legislative Council (now the Delaware Senate) in 1788, and was a candidate in the 1789 United States House of Representatives election for Delaware's at-large seat.<ref name="FJC" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bedford was nominated by President George Washington on September 24, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, to a new seat authorized by Template:USStat.<ref name=FJC/> He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, and received his commission the same day.<ref name=FJC/> Bedford was a leading advocate for the abolition of slavery.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Family
Bedford was a cousin of Gunning Bedford Sr., a Governor of Delaware.<ref name=CB/> In late 1772 or early 1773, Bedford married Jane Ballareau Parker, the daughter of James Parker, a printer who had learned his trade from Benjamin Franklin.<ref name="mason" /> He had 5 children, none of whom married.Template:Citation needed In 1793, he purchased Lombardy Hall on 250 acres in Brandywine Hundred.<ref name="historic">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="hall">Template:Cite web</ref>
Death and legacy
He died in office as a federal judge on March 30, 1812.<ref name="FJC2">Template:FJC Bio</ref> He was interred first in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Wilmington.<ref name=dar>Template:Cite book</ref> His remains were moved to the Masonic Home Cemetery at Christiana, Delaware. The cemetery is now the location of the Wilmington Institute Library.
Notes
References
- Template:FJC Bio
- Delaware Members of Congress
- The Political Graveyard
- Judges of the United States Courts
- National Historic Landmarks Program Template:Webarchive
- Lombardy Hall
External links
Template:S-start Template:S-legal Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end
- Pages with broken file links
- 1747 births
- 1812 deaths
- Founding Fathers of the United States
- Burials at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery
- People from Wilmington, Delaware
- Princeton University alumni
- Delaware lawyers
- Delaware attorneys general
- Continental Congressmen from Delaware
- Delaware state senators
- Members of the Delaware House of Representatives
- United States federal judges appointed by George Washington
- Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware
- Signatories of the Constitution of the United States
- People from colonial Delaware
- Politicians from Philadelphia
- Candidates in the 1788–1789 United States elections